ann kornuta

Post Canada Day Celebrations

Mike Cluett

Its been quite the busy week getting ready for Canada Day but in the end the event went off without a hitch. The pictures I took are in the process of being downloaded and I will post them either here or on Facebook to show them off. *EDIT 1051PM* DONE

The first part of our day was preparing the 27 classic convertible cars for the parade route through downtown. We were quite lucky to have the Halton Police Honour Guard there as well to carry the colours and to further honour the inductees to the Milton Walk of Fame. Many thanks to the hard work of Halton Regional Police Honour Guard Drill Commander Constable Hans, who got everyone together in the honour guard. It added that extra touch of class to the event. Also included in the Honour Guard is Allan Eaton, Constable Leggete, Constable Robertson, and Constable Kelly. Well done!!

Over the past couple of years the 150th Anniversary Committee and the Milton Historical Society had been working on this project, and to our knowledge there is no other municipality in the world that has anything close to this. These 27 people will be the first to have their names written in the history books of Milton as those from Milton who made a national and or international impact in their chosen field.

The cars where shined to perfection and as we got ready to go, some of the streets hadn’t been blocked off yet so some of us had to take it upon ourselves (and our cars) to make sure we cut off traffic as the parade went through town. Being a lover of these fine pieces of machinery, I’ll have THOSE pictures up on this blog soon too…what a sight.

We finally got moving just as the clouds began to come in for what some of us thought was a quick shower. This didn’t dampen any ones spirits, especially those of the inductee’s…”BRING IT ON!” they said.

Once the parade had finished, they ended up behind the main stage and they were marched in by the honour guard and the inductees made their way to the tables as the veterans, who were honoured earlier at Victoria Park, were seated as well.

Another chuckle we had was trying to bring Milly the Millstone, (pictured here, courtesy of Ashley Challinor) the official Town of Milton Mascot, up the narrow steps without causing a scene and injury to Milly. Speaking as one who has worn the Milly costume at events, its NOT an easy thing to move around in and Henry deserves some praise for doing it as often as he does.

John Challinor and Bruce Carlin of the Milton Historical Society, who were the emcees of the event, kicked it off with the introductions…and we finally began! As I stood there on stage looking out at the crowd, I was blown away by the sheer number of people who took the time to come out to first honour the veterans of Milton and the inductees to the Walk of Fame. As the introductions continued, I slipped out the camera and took a couple of shots…I was just speechless. Ann Kornuta, local Milton artist and “photo-master” was running around snapping as many shots as she could for the Halton Compass. There was so much going on, it was hard to keep up with it all. TV Cogeco was out in full force as well with a camera centre stage as well as Sandy French hard at work along the sidelines. Stay tuned to Plugged In! on TV Cogeco for the full story.

One by one the inductees were brought on to the stage to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to their craft, to get a quick photo snapped and maybe say a few words. Each one of them who spoke, did so from the heart. Many of them had won other awards in their chosen profession but many of them stated that the Milton Walk of Fame honour surpassed all others.

The most heartfelt speech of the day belonged to Tiger Ali Singh as he recounted his years as a youth in Milton, the hard work and dedication of not only his father but of his brothers and his mother for keeping the family together. They continue to live in Milton while travelling all over the world performing in wrestling matches. Tiger Jr.’s speech brought tears to many eyes as he expressed his gratitude of being honoured this way along with his father. Tiger Jeet Singh got up to speak as well, but as he passed me on his way up the stairs he told me, I don’t know how I’m going to top that. Hes a man of few words but they spoke volumes.

After the last inductee spoke it was time for people to have a chance to meet them face to face and get their autographs. No sooner that we announced it, many of the inductees were swarmed from Albert Casson to Bruce Hood (who enjoyed the boos of the crowd as he came up to the stage…those who are hockey fans KNOW how much fun it is to booo the refs!) OMNI TV came out to tape the event as well for the showcase of the Singh family. It actually got to the point they needed to leave and needed an escort out of the park to the cars…ME being security for two 6 foot PLUS wrestlers…HA…I know I laughed too.

What else can we say about Milton’s Canada Day but WOW! From beginning to end there were tons of things to do, the rides were great and the food was even better than before.

And the only way to end the show was with ABBAMANIA who rocked the crowd with many of Abba’s hits from the 70’s. Young and old were dancing, singing and having a great time as the sun went town and the night sky readied for the fireworks. A special thanks to Kevin who did quite a bit of jumping through hoops, bending over backwards and many days and nights stressing out to get Abbbamania as the main event for the 150th Anniversary /Canada Day celebrations. Great job Kevin!

The fireworks were set to music this year and there wasn’t one person who left that fairgrounds disappointed. For around 25 minutes the sky turned bright and loud with the sounds of the fireworks set to music. Excellent job and w
e can only hope next years Canada Day’s celebrations can be topped. It will be tough.

What a weekend!!

Mike Cluett

This was QUITE the weekend. It started off this Saturday at the Home Depot to sell some Milton 150th merchandise with the Mayor (he was there for awhile). Lots of people seemed to be more interested in getting their gardening tools and supplies than getting a cool looking Milton golf shirt (www.milton.ca and click on the 150th logo for merchandise )

We should be selling merchandise at the Farmer’s Market from now on. Speaking of the Market, Ann Kornuta is there most weeks doing some paintings on the street. For those of us who take in the Market week after week, she can be seen either painting or taking pictures. Her collection of work can be described as fun, bright, and unique. In my opinion, she is an amazing artist and you can check out her work here.

Anthony is almost finished his swimming lessons (I think there’s two more lessons to go) and he’s made quite the improvement over the last few weeks. He loves to bob up and down under water and meditate as he calls it. He’s doing really well with the back floats but he’s still having some challenges going forward. All in due time.

***As I type this neighbours are setting off fireworks. Now call me crazy, but isn’t it just a tad dangerous setting off fireworks in your backyard with dozens of homes right around you? Especially after 9PM when most kids are in bed. Am I too old now? ***

I am so happy that Milton Executive Fairways is open for the summer as the big Seargent Farms hasn’t sold its property yet, which means inexpensive 9 hole golf right around the corner for the duration of the summer. Good for me…I hope they don’t ever sell. More golf for me. Had my first round yesterday with Paul Mitrovich (which was his first ever round!) He bought clubs last year and he hasn’t had a chance to go out….problem solved. I shot a 55 in 9 holes (which is about where I left off last year) and he shot a 64!!! Not bad for a first round eh? There WILL be more golf to come this year.

Tomorrow is the first practice for our soccer team… sponsored this year by Chudleigh’s and Anthony is looking forward to it. As I’ve said before, I’m a bit nervous but there are a few parents who have coached before are will be helping me out during the season…which is a load off my mind.

The challenges we have are to make sure the kids have fun (RULE NUMBER ONE) and also teach them a bit about being competitive and trying hard to win. Many of these kids will be moving on towards rep play in the coming years and you have to make sure they are aware of how GOOD it is to win and now not as GOOD it is to not win (all you English majors, that last sentence was intentional HAHA). I will probably screw a few things up over the course of the season but, as life goes, you roll with the punches and have fun doing it.

I think I have overcome my initial “addiction” to Facebook and its beginning to slow down a bit. I know several people who do almost all their communicating through it. I don’t think THAT’S the main reason for Facebook. I like to use the IM’s like MSN, ICQ, and Google Talk etc but not off that one page. Email is still the best… mike at mikecluett.ca

I’ll see you on the field!

Filing Day

Mike Cluett

Got back from Town Hall earlier this morning after filing…

NOW before anyone says WARD 2…it was to file my financial statements from the last municipal elections. I was a little late and thank goodness I did it when I did as if you were a candidate and DIDNT file the financial statements by the 16th of April, you could be disqualified from running for office for 6 years (according to the Municipal Act). That would’ve meant that if I failed to file, yours truly, in case I wanted to run again for Town Council in Milton would have to sit out the next general election in 2010. Not a good plan. So consider it done.

I was at Troy’s Diner in downtown Milton last week when I was asked again if I were considering running for the open position. By the way, the date of that election is June 14th and so far there are only 4 official contenders that have filed their nomination papers (John Challinor , Ron Furik , Mike Bugala – no website and Greg Nelson – no website)

There are a few other rumoured names still yet to file such as former Ward 2 Candidate Peter Haight but thats expected shortly.

Ward 2 encompasses the entire downtown Milton area and while there are many issues shared by all parts of Milton, the downtown area requires an experienced hand in dealing with them. Recently there was a special council meeting to discuss the establishment and implementation of a ban on cosmetic uses of pesticides that was quite interesting. I attended the meeting on April 2nd to hear presentations from a number of people on both sides of the issue. The current edition of the Halton Compass has an article by Ann Kornuta that outlines many of the issues involved in this.

From my understanding this has been brought forward to council previously with no resolution and this time around council has asked for a report from staff to be delivered for review and discussion at the earliest possible time with the intention of having a bylaw set in place MAYBE by the end of the summer.

Like the global warming/climate change arguement, there are many sides and LOTS of information available on the pro or anti side and its quite difficult to sift through them all. Many rural farmers are opposed to it because they see it as the “thin edge of the wedge” and once pesticides are banned for cosmetic purposes, they feel that agricultural bans will soon follow.

Up until that meeting I had no clue that the entire province of Quebec had a ban on cosmetic uses of pesticides in the entire province. The story goes on one side, that its completely dangerous to plants, children and pets and should be completely banned while the other side says its ok as long as there is no direct contact during application.

If Milton Town Council is going to initiate this ban, I would hope they do their homework, and not rush through a process and have an ineffective bylaw. Who would police it? Will complaints be registered the same way people complain about street parking, dog leash violations, and noise? What happens if the town bylaw departments are too busy to answer calls like this? Will town need more staff to drive around to answer each complaint? There is so much to look into and if we rush this process, something can get missed very quickly.

I realize that I might be in the minority when I say council did the right thing (eventually) that night after bouncing back and forth with amendments and other councillors trying to drive through the bylaw right away and who was going to second the motions etc. We need all the answers to all the questions before we put something in place, that once in will be very hard to repeal if they were wrong.

There are so many other downtown issues that need to be addressed in some ways. There was an interesting letter to the editor in the Champion by Milton resident Rick Serafini outlining the reasons the downtown area should have the new Arts Centre.

Speaking of filing, April 30th is the deadline for taxes. Now that I have one filing out of the way, I think I should get to another no?